Prokurative (Republic Square)

The Prokurative, also known as Republic Square (Trg Republike), is Split's grandest 19th-century piazza — three sides of uniform neo-Renaissance arcades forming a three-sided square that opens toward the Riva and the sea. It was built during the Austrian period as a deliberate display of civic architecture, and the echoes of Piazza San Marco are impossible to ignore.

The square serves as Split's main outdoor concert space during the Split Summer Festival in July and August, when a temporary stage on the open (sea) side turns the enclosed space into a natural amphitheatre. The acoustics are excellent. For the rest of the year the Prokurative is a quieter alternative to the Riva, with terrace cafes along the arcade. It's two minutes' walk west of the main Bronze Gate palace entrance.

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A story
The Prokurative was designed in the 1850s in deliberate imitation of the Piazza San Marco in Venice — three sides of a uniform neo-Renaissance arcade, open on the fourth side to the sea. The design was never entirely finished; the north side of the square was supposed to have a public building but was never completed, leaving the square with three uniform faces and one open side. Architecturally the imitation is obvious; as a public space it works perfectly.